SMS Gateways and Chatbots: Why Should You Consider Combining These Two?

Nowadays, the online market is highly competitive and most marketing channels are oversaturated by a myriad of offers generated by various businesses. So whatever businesses try to do to get an advantage, they often run into fierce competition. Fortunately, some media channels are overlooked, which provides a unique opportunity for companies to capitalize on. 

After all, getting a competitive advantage is not about copying what everyone else does but doing something different and unique. That said, one of the most commonly overlooked channel is SMS (Short Message Service). Although the vast majority of consumers use messaging apps and other mediums for communication, SMS is still a thing. 

And what better way to leverage this channel to communicate with multiple leads at once than to use a well-designed chatbot? Combine an SMS API with a chatbot and you have an entirely new way of reaching out to a broader audience. With that in mind, let's explore the benefits of combining SMS gateways with chatbots to help you business effectively communicate with potential customers.

Why SMS in the first place?

As mentioned before, SMS is a commonly overlooked media channel. Businesses would rather use social media, email and other channels to promote themselves or their products and services than rely on text messages. 

Of course, that would be a wasted opportunity. The fact of the matter is that around 5 billion people globally send and receive text messages on a daily basis. Believe it or not, that's around 65% of world population. So if you're thinking that SMS is an obsolete channel, you're very wrong on that matter. 

Not to mention the fact that SMS has one of the highest open rates, which is 98%. That's even higher than email. All of that being said, SMS can be a great way to promote your business and reach out to consumers in a more seamless way while other channels are being overpopulated.

Fusing SMS gateways with chatbots

As you may already know, chatbots are computer programs that are often powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its machine learning capabilities. On the other hand, an SMS gateway allows a computer, most commonly a server, to send or receive text messages in SMS format. 

This gateway can be used as means for application-to-person communications that are routed to mobile devices via telecommunications network. In other words, you can use a computer, or in this case a chatbot, to send messages to consumers and engage with them at all times. 

But why a chatbot of all things? It's simple really, a chatbot can mimic human behavior using natural language recognition and, therefore, effectively communicate with multiple consumers at once, while operating 24/7.

What does SMS gateway has to do with this?

An SMS gateway allows you to leverage SMS marketing through chatbots so you don't have to rely on messaging apps like WhatsApp of Facebook Messenger, for instance. 

That being said, all messaging apps have strict limitations and policies for using chatbots while SMS as a communication method doesn't have any limitations at all. As long as a consumer messages your company first or provides consent for you to do the same, everything goes. In other words, you can broadcast your messages to any number of people and there is no time frame to do that. 

This is a huge advantage of SMS over messaging apps, especially if you use a chatbot to convey your messages. But let's not forget the main benefit here. Around 61% of companies aren't using SMS for communication or marketing purposes so this channel is much more available and less competitive than any other channel out there.

The main benefits of using SMS gateways and chatbots

As mentioned before, SMS is an open communication channel with no restrictions towards chatbot implementation whatsoever. Moreover, it's far less populated than other channels, so by the time your competitors catch on regarding what you're doing, you'll have a significant advantage over them. 

At the same time, chatbots are quite effective at engaging consumers and catering to their needs. Not to mention the fact that they are quite popular among younger generations of consumers. Therefore, a chatbot can manage your promotional and marketing needs over SMS while you focus your attention on other important tasks like developing or growing your business further, for example.